Claimed to be the first enterprise-grade Big Data analytics platform targeting department-specific deployments, the new product is part of the exploding movement to simplify the traditionally complicated Hadoop ecosystem.

Red Hat said it's working with NEC on network functions virtualization features for its OpenStack Infrastructure-as-a-Service solution with the goal of developing a carrier-grade service for communication service providers.

Cisco Systems Inc. has made several fits and starts in positioning itself for the new era of software-defined networking (SDN), joining some initiatives and projects, proposing its own alternatives and now embracing multiple options.

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. shipped its OpenDaylight-based software-defined networking (SDN) controller that it says can help enterprises avoid vendor lock-in while testing the new technology. To encourage that, the company is offering a free one-year license for the new Vyatta Controller.

Financial firm Piper Jaffray conducted a recent survey of enterprise CIOs that indicated many wide-ranging predictions about the fast adoption of software-defined networking (SDN) might be a bit too optimistic on the timing side of things.

Altiscale Inc. recently secured $30 million in Series B startup funding, highlighting the burgeoning movement of offering Hadoop analytics as a service and, on a deeper scale, the maturation of the entire Big Data analytics industry.